Dr. Craig Wong
The New College Berkeley Writing Center Initiative
2026: New College Berkeley (NCB) proposes to formalize and focus more sharply the work it has been doing for the past three years as a center for writing. The hope in establishing NCB as a “center” for writing is to help cultivate clear, life-giving, timely writing as an instrument of communal discernment, church leadership, and bringing informed faith perspectives to public conversation in the SF Bay Area. The NCB Writing Center will build on a three-part infrastructure NCB has been developing over the past few years: 1) a base of experienced writers and instructors; 2) a cohort program in which participants write and critique essays aimed at “discerning gospel faithfulness” in their sociopolitical context, and 3) the recently-acquired Radix Magazine, which serves as a publishing home for both emerging and seasoned Christian writers. This project connects and strengthens these dimensions of NCB’s work into a coherent, resourced program to bring new voices and informed, faithful articulate witnesses into public conversation in the decades ahead.
Craig is a San Francisco Bay Area native, born in Oakland in ‘61, grew up in small-town Albany, became a Christ-follower in '80 while an undergraduate at UC Berkeley, joined InterVarsity staff in '84 and, eventually, went on to lead a congregation-based, community development nonprofit in San Francisco’s Latino Mission District for almost 24 years. Currently, he serves as ED of New College Berkeley, a theological “third space” that bridges Christians, churches, and academia to discern gospel faithfulness and foster prophetic courage in, and for, our time. He is married to Tina, with whom they have raised four children (not adults) in San Francisco.
The Strengthening Pastoral Formation for Ministry in the City initiative involves seminaries, theological institutions, and churches and intends to help communities and institutions explore and assess their own urban context and church life; gain clarity about their mission and programmatic offerings; and strengthen and support the design and implementation of plans to address key challenges and opportunities for pastoral formation and flourishing congregations in urban settings.
